AMERICA REACHES FOR TRADITION

AMERICA REACHES FOR TRADITION; Giving Thanks, at the President's Table

By MARIAN BURROS

Published: November 14, 2001

WASHINGTON—
AT a time when there are so many uncertainties, one thing is immutable: President Bush and his family will share a Thanksgiving dinner of the traditional dishes they've always loved, complete with a few Texas touches and one new grace note from the White House pastry chef, Roland Mesnier.

But however much the Bushes try to make this a Thanksgiving like all the others, it is, of course, so very different. For one thing, they will be gathering at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, instead of at a friend's home in Texas. Beyond that, the holiday will have more than the usual poignancy and significance.

On a glorious fall day in Washington, with the sun streaming in through the Georgian windows, making the scarlet chairs in the Red Room almost luminescent, Laura Bush talked about the importance of being with their daughters and other family members, and maintaining the family traditions and the menu, from the 50's-style appetizer plate of celery, carrots and black olives to the roast turkey with corn bread-sage dressing and a creamy sweet potato purée speckled with cinnamon and toasted pecans.

''One of the results of Sept. 11 is that all of us are much more aware of the things we mainly took for granted: our family members, our loved ones, our freedoms, our incredible life that all Americans are lucky to have,'' she said. ''For that reason, it will be a particularly special holiday but also, I think, slightly bittersweet.''

And for some, she said, it will be especially hard ''because there will be a lot of families who will have an empty seat at the table, either because they lost somebody Sept. 11 in New York or the Pentagon or Pennsylvania, or because they're a military family and somebody they love is overseas.''

This is the first Thanksgiving in seven years that the Bushes will not celebrate the holiday with William and Regan Gammon in Austin. Mrs. Gammon has been Laura Bush's best friend since they were children. It was Mrs. Gammon who exposed Mrs. Bush as a good cook, which made the First Lady laugh. ''She only said that because I learned to cook from her,'' she said. ''I spent a lot of evenings over there.'' Which may explain why the Bush and Gammon Thanksgiving menus are so similar.

''We always have a huge feast,'' Mrs. Bush said. ''The menu this year has been honed down to our favorites.'' And it looks very much like the quintessential Thanksgiving dinner from the southern half of the country with corn bread dressing, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans, turkey with giblet gravy, cranberry relish, and pumpkin and pecan pies. ''Of course,'' Mrs. Bush said, ''we do have celery, olives and carrots. It's like a 50's thing. As a child I would stand around and eat all the olives.'' Mrs. Bush was not the only one.

Ordinarily the Bush twins, Jenna and Barbara, who were born the day before Thanksgiving in 1981, make the pies, as they have since they were 8. But Jenna Bush, who is responsible for the one made with pumpkin, may be out of a job this year. Mrs. Bush fell in love with a version created by Mr. Mesnier, and he has been asked to have several ready to go to Camp David.

Pondering what made Mr. Mesnier's pie so special, Mrs. Bush kidded about its origins: ''At first I couldn't figure out what was so good about it. Maybe it's just off the Libby's can. Or maybe it's just a lot of ginger in the whipped cream, but of course, Roland's pie shell is fabulous.''

Again and again, Mrs. Bush made light of her cooking skills. Unlike Mr. Mesnier's recipes, most of hers, she said, have been taken from the back of boxes and cans, though she confessed that she has ''a huge cookbook collection'' and that her love of reading extends to cookbooks.

The dressing, however, comes from her mother's recipe files. It is made of corn bread and goes in a casserole, not in the turkey, and it is always seasoned with lots of sage, a dish with particularly fond associations.

''This is literally a refrain from my childhood: every time my mother made corn bread stuffing, my dad would say, 'Be sure to put in plenty of sage' or 'Do you think you put in enough sage?' That was his favorite flavor in the corn bread dressing, as if she would all of a sudden change and not put in plenty of sage. It's a happy memory of him.''

The Bush turkey is fresh, and Mrs. Bush remembers the first time she cooked one, joining a long list of novices who forget to take the giblets out.

There will be green beans sautéed in butter, though without the hint of anchovy served at Mrs. Gammon's. Another Gammon speciality the Bushes have often eaten, roasted red peppers with cream, garlic and anchovies, may also be missing.

Asked for her sweet potato recipe, Mrs. Bush provided Mrs. Gammon's, a favorite of the president's (''He always asks for seconds,'' Mrs. Gammon said) though when Mrs. Bush makes it she eliminates the sugar and marshmallow topping and adds pecans. The family is especially fond of pecans; the pecan is the Texas state tree, and their Crawford Ranch has hundreds of them.